Synopsis:

Arguing that his poetry is not idolatrous in the sense of “polytheistic,” the poet contends that he celebrates only a single person, the beloved, as forever “fair, kind, and true.” Yet by locating this trinity of features in a single being, the poet flirts with idolatry in the sense of worshipping his beloved.

 
Let not my love be called idolatry,
Nor my belovèd as an idol show,
Since all alike my songs and praises be
4To one, of one, still such, and ever so.
Kind is my love today, tomorrow kind,
Still constant in a wondrous excellence;
Therefore my verse, to constancy confined,
8One thing expressing, leaves out difference.
“Fair, kind, and true” is all my argument,
“Fair, kind, and true,” varying to other words;
And in this change is my invention spent,
12Three themes in one, which wondrous scope affords.
 “Fair,” “kind,” and “true” have often lived alone,
 Which three till now never kept seat in one.

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